Thursday, February 25, 2010

If not spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their puppies could breed 66,000 dogs in 6 years! Spay and neuter PLEASE! To not do so is not only inhumane and cruel, it is criminal in my book!Save lives, please!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Friday, February 19, 2010

Just picked up my newest rescue from the vet. Max, a young male gray Tabby! He had the works done, nueter, all his shots so he is now good to go! Poor lil guy had ear mites and fleas, so they gave him Revolution for the fleas and a perscription ear drops for the ear mites. Someone just dumped the lil guy and abandoned him. Total cost today, a whopping 346.00! Ouch that hurt, but this is what happens when rescuers like me, take on another persons responsibility due to either ignorance or just plain stupidity, or they just have no heart. Sickens me, he is such a love and how someone dumped him, is beyond me. Will find him a forever home! Which is what he deserves, they ALL do!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

I have entered for the chance to be sponsored by the wonderful people at Prilosec OTC for my cat rescue. I would appreciate your votes! It's all for my kittys and gives me a chance to start my dream, a non-profit Cat Rescue. These wonderful folks have not only developed a product to help heartburn sufferers like myself, but are giving us a chance to pursue our dreams!

Monday, February 15, 2010

In an ocean mystery that is baffling marine biologists, at least 1,000 brown pelicans have turned up dead or in distress along California beaches during the past month, with hundreds overwhelming wildlife rescue centers from the Bay Area to San Diego.

The popular birds, whose wing spans can reach 8 feet and who dramatically dive into ocean waters to scoop up fish, are widely reported to be hungry and disoriented.

They also appear to have some kind of substance — possibly a naturally occurring material from a red tide or other ocean conditions — that is causing their feathers to lose insulation properties, exposing the birds' skin to cold water and hypothermia.

"It's a mystery. It's tragic. It's very sad to see these poor birds suffer," said Dana Michaels, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Game. "I hope we can get to the bottom of it. There's something really endearing about pelicans."

Over the past week, the department announced it is pooling resources with wildlife rescue centers from around the state to try to determine the cause.

Starting in mid-January, many of the birds began showing up in Southern California with problems. Reports of distressed pelicans have become common all the way to the Oregon border, with dozens found in places such as Del Monte Beach in Monterey, Main Beach in Santa Cruz and several spots along the San Francisco coast.

Many of the Northern California pelicans

are being taken to Solano County, to the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia.

"I've been doing wildlife rehabbing for 40 years,'' said Jay Holcomb, director of the center. "With pelicans, this is the worst I've ever seen."

Harmful residue

Last week the center treated about 100 pelicans, and its other hospital in San Pedro, near Los Angeles, is caring for 200. The birds are gobbling down 1,000 pounds of mackerel and other fish a day, at a cost of more than $1,000, causing the nonprofit agency to run short of money.

The odd thing, Holcomb said, is that while the birds don't appear to be fouled — like with crude oil after an oil spill — they do have a harmful residue on their feathers.

"When we wash them you can tell something is coming off. The water is discolored, like when you wash really dirty clothes," he said. "That's not normal."

The good news, said Holcomb, is that if the birds are brought in soon enough, they can be cleaned, fed and restored to health in two weeks, then released. About 60 percent of the pelicans taken to the two centers are surviving.

Scientists have several theories about possible causes of the problem.

This is an El Niño year, a condition that makes Pacific waters warmer than normal. In past El Niño years, pelicans have had problems, said Michaels of Fish and Game, possibly because the sardines and anchovies they eat have moved to different locations as parts of the ocean warmed. Also, she noted, there is less upwelling — cold water moving to the surface, bringing plankton, small marine creatures and other sea life that sardines and anchovies eat.

Red tides?

Heavy storms also are causing polluted runoff — oil, sewage, pesticides — to wash from the land to the sea, potentially impacting pelicans.

"I'm guessing it's a perfect storm, a trifecta, of the storms, polluted runoff from the rains and lack of food," said Carmel resident Karen Benzel, who has helped rescue a dozen ailing pelicans.

Necropsies on 12 pelicans at the Fish and Game lab in Santa Cruz have found the birds are eating species they don't normally eat, like squid. Feathers were sent to a Fish and Game lab in Rancho Cordova for chemical testing, but the results aren't back yet.

Last year, researchers from the University of California-Santa Cruz and other institutions published a study showing that a naturally occurring red tide was to blame in 2007 after 550 grebes, loons and other birds were stranded, hypothermic, on Monterey Bay beaches, and another 207 died.

A huge bloom of marine algae caused a soap-like foam to coat the birds' feathers, they found, stripping them of their waterproofing qualities.

"There are some similarities now," Holcomb said.

Ironically, brown pelicans were removed from the federal endangered species list last year. Driven to near extinction by the chemical DDT, their numbers nationally rebounded after it was banned in 1972. Holcomb and some other pelican advocates opposed delisting of the California population.

Fish and Game officials are asking people who see distressed pelicans not to feed or capture them, but instead to call wildlife rescue professionals at 866-WILD-911 (866-945-3911). Donations to the International Bird Rescue Research Center can be made at the www.ibrrc.org.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The wonderful people at CSN Stores have given me the opportunity to review their Square Cat Habitat "Lo" Modern Cat Scratcherfor kittys! We all know how messy those cardboard scratchers can be, and costly! Just think, no more scratching at your couch or bar stools! I look forward to reviewing this and introducing it to my kittys! Please check out their wonderful sites and check back here soon for my review!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Humane Society Silicon Valley is all about heart in the spirit of Valentine's Day

By Mary Gottschalk

Willow Glen Resident

Posted: 02/05/2010 12:15:45 PM PST

Updated: 02/05/2010 12:15:47 PM PST

Everyone knows Humane Society Silicon Valley has a heart, but it's showing even more heart during February by offering a 50 percent reduction in fees for spaying and neutering dogs, cats and rabbits.

Additionally, it is hosting a Valentine's Adopt-a-Thon on Feb. 13.

During February, fees for spaying and neutering for cats are $45 for females and $25 for males, and rabbits are $50. Dog fees are according to size — under 25 pounds it's $50 for females and $37.50 for males; 26 to 50 pounds it's $55 for females and $42.50 for males; 51 to 75 pounds it's $70 for females and $55 for males; and 76 to 99 pounds it's $80 for females and $62.50 for males.

The Valentine's Adopt-a-Thon will take place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the 13th at the Humane Society, 901 Ames Ave., Milpitas. Cats, dogs and rabbits will be up for adoption and animal care specialists will be on hand to assist pets and adopters in getting acquainted.

Professional photo portraits with pets will be available, and there will be live music and silent auctions.

1. ASPCA Managing Operations in Mississippi Puppy Mill InvestigationYesterday, the ASPCA assisted in the rescue of 75 dogs from a local puppy mill in Marshall County, MS. The dogs, which include Shih Tzus, Lhasa Apsos, Pugs, Yorkshire Terriers, Corgis and Chihuahuas, were discovered living in filth and feces-encrusted pens. The animals have been transported to an emergency shelter site at the Marshall County Humane Society, where they are receiving veterinary care. Read More...

2. ASPCA Happy Tails: Love Is BlindHandsome Apollo lures his many fans with hugs around the neck and kitty kisses. Learn how his new pet parent fell for this affectionate feline's wily ways.

California considers dramatically expanding the number of black bears hunters can kill

A black bear leads her family away from the Willits landfill at dusk after... (Karen T. Borchers)

Watch out, Smokey. Keep your head down, Yogi.

Saying that California's black bear population has quadrupled in the past 25 years, state Fish and Game Department officials are drafting new rules that could increase the number of black bears killed by hunters each year in the state by 50 percent or more.

The proposal also would allow hunters for the first time to use global positioning system devices on the collars of hounds that they use to track bears, along with automatic triggers that alert hunters when their dogs have treed a bear.

State hunting managers say the rules — which would increase the current limit of 1,700 killed annually — would offer more people the opportunity to hunt and wouldn't significantly affect the health or size of the overall black bear population in California, now at 38,000. The growing bear population also is increasingly causing problems, they note.

"There are more reported incidents of bears causing private property damage," said Doug Updike, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Fish and Game. "People are moving into bear habitat, and we have more bears that are more widely distributed. We are having more interactions between bears and people."

But animal rights groups promise to fight the proposed new rules, starting Thursday when the state Fish and Game Commission holds a hearing in Sacramento. A final vote is expected April 21.

"It's an extreme plan. We are

strong opponents of hound hunting of bears, and consider it unfair and inhumane to chase bears with packs of dogs, drive them up trees and then shoot them in the trees," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States.

"What they've done here is to make it even more lopsided by proposing to allow GPS equipment to be used and to expand the hunt."

The American black bear is the smallest and most common type of bear in the United States. It is found from Maine to California, and typically weighs as much as 500 pounds. Black bears have a mostly vegetarian diet and have never killed anyone in California.

Their more voracious, meat-eating cousins, grizzly bears, went extinct in California after the last one was shot in 1922.

Under current state hunting laws, black bear hunting season in California typically begins each fall. It ends every year when hunters either report up to 1,700 black bears killed or when the last Sunday in December arrives. Sometimes the annual number is larger — it was 2,028 in 2008, for example — because of the lag time between kills and paperwork being completed.

The proposal from Fish and Game staff offers various options to increase the total quota, with one option suggesting it go to 2,500 killed a year, and another suggesting there be no limit set.

The proposal also would expand bear hunting into San Luis Obispo, Inyo, Modoc and Lassen counties. Although there is no bear hunting allowed in the Bay Area, it is legal in most of Northern California from Sacramento to the Oregon border, throughout the Sierra Nevada and across rural Southern California's mountains from the Santa Barbara area to San Bernardino.

Hunting groups say they support expanding bear hunting.

"In places like South Lake Tahoe, bears are knocking down front doors and coming into cabins. It happened to a friend of ours. A bear opened his refrigerator," said Bill Gaines, president of the California

Outdoor Heritage Alliance. "The number of complaints about bears is off the charts."

Gaines noted that Fish and Game biologists have shown that even by expanding the number of animals killed, it will have no significant effect on the overall population, which the department estimates has grown from about 10,000 in the mid-1980s to about 38,000 today.

"The regulations are based on solid science. We can't start managing our wildlife based on emotions," he said.

Gaines, who said he shot a 300-pound black bear in November in Mendocino County and still has 40 pounds of its meat in his freezer, ready for stew, also noted that California already has some of the stronger bear hunting rules in the nation. Hunters are allowed to kill only one a year, cannot use traps, and cannot kill cubs under 50 pounds, for example.

But Pacelle, of the Humane Society, said that Washington and Oregon voters banned the use of hounds in the 1990s for bear hunting. He said if the California Fish and Game Commission widens the hunt, his group will put a measure on the California ballot by 2012 to ban hound hunting of bears.

He noted that since the 1990s, his organization has never lost a ballot fight in California, banning mountain lion hunting twice, leg hold traps, slaughter of horses for human food, and confined cages for farm animals.

"We've won five in a row, and I have no doubt that if we had a ballot measure banning hound hunting of bears, we'd win by a large margin," he said.

Friday, January 22, 2010

1. Overwhelmed Owner Releases 35 Cats to the ASPCAAs one NYC resident learned firsthand, two unaltered pet cats can soon turn into more than three dozen. Thankfully, the ASPCA was able to intervene and provide some help. She relinquished 35 of the felines, who will soon be made available for adoption. Read More...

Monday, January 18, 2010

With hearts and minds focused squarely on the devastating earthquake that occurred in Haiti on January 12, the ASPCA extends its full support to those organizations providing humanitarian relief in the ravaged island nation. Soon, the animal victims of this disaster will need help, too—that's why the ASPCA has joined the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH).

ARCH was created to address the needs of animals in Haiti in this time of crisis. The coalition is headed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), and in addition to the ASPCA, consists of a number of animal welfare groups including American Humane, Best Friends, the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International.

The ASPCA has joined ARCH with the belief that partnering across organizations is the most effective way to address the serious and enormous problems facing animals in Haiti. There are an estimated 5 million head of livestock in the country (mostly goats), a large stray dog population, and an untold number of companion animals and native wildlife all adversely affected by the earthquake.

Currently, a team of experts in animal emergency response is staging in the Dominican Republic waiting to get into Haiti to begin work. IFAW and WSPA have also begun to stock a mobile clinic with vaccines, antibiotics, bandages, food and other supplies in anticipation of bringing direct aid to animals.

The ASPCA has committed to providing logistical support to the disaster responders from the U.S. In addition, the ASPCA stands ready to deploy highly skilled and specially trained members of our own Field Investigations and Response Team to the area.

1. Ten Most Common Pet Poisons of 2009This past year, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center handled more than 140,000 cases of pets exposed to toxic household substances, proving that many everyday items in our homes can harm pets. Find out what these pet-unfriendly substances are—and avoid an accident in 2010. Read More...

2. ASPCA Happy Tails: Language of LoveAfter overcoming some serious obstacles, Christy is living the good life with her new family and five feline siblings. Read this get-along pooch's heartbreaking story and how she found her way home for the holidays.

3. Domestic Violence Linked to Animal CrueltyThe connection between domestic violence and animal cruelty is undisputed—as many as 88% of families in abuse situations also report cases of animal cruelty. Learn how you can help stop the cycle.

4. Operation Chihuahua Update!Last week, we introduced you to 15 jet-setting Chihuahuas from California. Get ready to learn who's been adopted, who's found love, and who's taking a bite out of the Big Apple.

Maukie - the virtual cat

About Me

My passion is Cat Rescue. My dream is to establish a non-profit Cat Rescue to be able to expand my efforts to save these animals. I currently rescue and foster Cats in my home. I am also an Activist on behalf of ALL animals of the earth.

About My Blog

My Cat rescue work andstriving to educate people about the plight of the animals of the earth, whom God has entrusted to us. To fight against cruelty, abandonment and suffering of our fellow creatures. Please help in the fight, do your part. You CAN make a difference!

My Favorite Quote

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man."~Gandhi~